Saturday, April 11, 2009

Freezing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and the ozone hole in Antarctica

I was thinking about the fact that Antarctica is the only place on earth that gets cold enough to freeze carbon dioxide gas (other than 50 miles up in the mesopause where the air is too thin to matter much), when I realized an interesting coincidence with another natural phenomena: the so-called ozone "hole" that only occurs in Antarctica. Maybe just a coincidence, or maybe not. Nonetheless, very interesting.

The freezing point for carbon dioxide is -109.3 F or -78.5 C. The temperature in some parts of Antarctica can reach -80 C or lower.

Eventually "spring" comes and any frozen carbon dioxide on the surface would be re-released into the atmosphere.

Another possibility is that frozen carbon dioxide crystals remain as an "aerosol" since they may be very small and float in the atmosphere until "spring" warms up to melt them.

Either way, this is a natural phenomenon that coincidentally only occurs at the one place on earth where a large ozone "hole" occurs.

Friday, April 10, 2009

Cafe Philo in New York City in two weeks: "Does idleness have value for a human being?"

The discussion topic for the next Cafe Philo in New York City in two weeks, on Thursday, April 23, 2009, is "Does idleness have value for a human being?". Alas, I will not be there since I will be traveling to a finance symposium in Washington, D.C.

As usual, the meeting will be held from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the back room at Bamiyan Restaurant (Afghan food) at the northwest corner of Third Avenue and 26th Street in New York City. In exchange for free meeting space, it is expected that each attendee will purchase a minimum of $5 of food or drink.

There is also usually some number of attendees who go across the street to McCormack's Bar for drinks and food and extended discussion after Cafe Philo, but not limited to the scheduled discussion topic.

There are a number of small groups in the U.S. and Europe who meet regularly to discuss topics related to philosophy. Some of these groups go by the name "Cafe Philo." There is one here in New York City that meets every two weeks, every other Thursday. It is organized and moderated by Bernard Roy, Associate Professor of Philosophy at Ramapo College of New Jersey. Each meeting focuses on a specific topic which was suggested and voted on by the participants at the last meeting.

As usual, the meeting will be held from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the back room at Bamiyan Restaurant (Afghan food) at the northwest corner of Third Avenue and 26th Street in New York City. In exchange for free meeting space, it is expected that each attendee will purchase a minimum of $5 of food or drink.

There is also usually some number of attendees who go across the street to McCormack's Bar for drinks and food and extended discussion after Cafe Philo, but not limited to the scheduled discussion topic.

There are a number of small groups in the U.S. and Europe who meet regularly to discuss topics related to philosophy. Some of these groups go by the name "Cafe Philo." There is one here in New York City that meets every two weeks, every other Thursday. It is organized and moderated by Bernard Roy, Associate Professor of Philosophy at Ramapo College of New Jersey. Each meeting focuses on a specific topic which was suggested and voted on by the participants at the last meeting.

Monday, April 06, 2009

Health care without any fine print

"Universal health care", "health care reform", and similar phrasings are such mouthfuls of words that are also vague and confusing, and they do not tell you what you really want and need to know. We need a better slogan, and here it is:

Health care without any fine print

No fine print. None. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Not even a line requiring you to sign your name.

My requirements for any credible health care reform "package" are simply as follows:

Care is universal. Everyone is covered and all treatments are covered. Period. No fine print about people or conditions that "may" not be covered fully.

No non-medical information is needed before receiving care. An ID may be provided, but only to facilitate access to medical records for medical treatment.

Anywhere and anytime. No restrictions as to where or when a person can receive care.

No fine print! Really! No document is needed to describe anything other than the preceding three points. That's it! Really!

Sunday, April 05, 2009

Made my Kiva micro-loan for the month of April

I made a new micro-loan through Kiva for the month of April. My intention is to make a new micro-loan every month, in large part from repayments for past micro-loans.

This one was for a man and his wife who has been selling toys and children's clothes in Mongolia for eight years now, to expand their business. It is a 26-month micro-loan for a total of $1,150, of which I lent $25. Its first repayment is scheduled for June 2009. The micro-loan was already disbursed to them on March 30, 2009 by the local partner. Kiva is raising funds to essentially buy that loan from the local partner.

Note: This is all real and good, but these micro-loans do not net any interest to us micro-lenders. Kiva's fine print:

Lending to the working poor through Kiva involves risk of principal loss.Kiva does not guarantee repayment nor do we offer a financial return on your loan.

Still, at least we know our money is really helping somebody better their lives in a visible way rather than put the money in a bank account or money market fund where who knows what it helps to pay for or what good it does and for only a few pennies of profit in our pockets.